I am doing a mini binge of films for genres I would never usually watch but that have autistic characters. It would not be fair of me to rate films whose situations and characters I have little to nothing in common with besides being Autistic.
This film has autistic actors playing Autistics meaning I should support the film out of principle.
The film is set in a New York City Jewish social skills group for 20-somethings. David and Sarah are the couple. The core plot is typical for this genre.
Overcome obstacles, fall in love, break up, make up.
Two realistic things about the characters stick out. Each character has aspects where they are clueless about aspects of social things and life in general, and completely get other aspects. David's boomer parents are ableists disapproving of him going out with a "brain damaged" girl. Sarah is the only character the mentions their diagnosis(Autism and nonverbal learning disorder).
I found David offputting
From the get-go, he is ableist dismissive of the group because he feels he is above them, "normal" a word he uses several times. He is apparently a bigot who tells a number of offensive jokes.
The director said she left the problematic aspects of the characters in because she wanted to be authentic, something I have no problem with at all.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
17 Jan 2023, 5:41 pm
